The present invention relates to Internet Protocol (IP) network connections in general and, more specifically, to communication between nodes in such networks.
Internet Protocol (IP) networks, the Internet being the obvious example, information can be retrieved from servers by client applications. Typically, the client application is found in a personal computer and used by a user to download and, in some cases, to supply information.
The price of Internet software packages has dropped over the last couple of years. The subscription cost and the cost of being connected to the Internet is, however, still relatively high, especially if connected through the telephone line. One way of cutting the subscribers"" costs for the connection to the Internet would be to reduce the price if they would accept advertisements to be transmitted to them while connected.
Currently the most common way of providing advertisements on the Internet is to include them in the form of so called banners in web pages. When a user downloads a web page, in addition to the desired information, one or more banners comprising advertisements may be included. This solution only works with World Wide Web applications, that is, not while the user is, for example, working with an e-mail tool. Also, new advertisements can only be supplied when the user is actively retrieving information. It also allows very little adaptation to particular user profiles, etc.
Also, there is no connection to a particular user""s use of the Internet, or to the services of a particular service provider. Rather, a content provider includes the advertisements in his own web pages, and the service provider does not make any money from it.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,572,643 describes a method by which a service provider may provide advertisements, or other information, to Internet users while they are searching for other information.
According to U.S. Pat No. 5,572,643, the advertisements are displayed on the user""s terminal while it is waiting for other information, requested by the user, to be downloaded. The advertisements were downloaded to the user""s terminal together with other information, as hidden information, for example with a web page that was downloaded earlier, and are displayed to the user when a new web page is being downloaded. This means that advertisements can only be supplied while the user is actively retrieving other information. Also, they are only displayed while the user is waiting for other information.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,740,549 describes a method of automatically distributing information such as advertisements to user terminals in a data network. An application in the user terminal, commonly referred to as a push client, at certain intervals, receives information from an information server, commonly referred to as a push server. This information is received at the terminal together with the information retrieved by the user from the Internet, and is presented to the user, for example, when the terminal is idle.
Most push clients allow the user to specify the push servers from which information should be received. Therefore, there is a risk of users disabling the reception of information from the push servers while still keeping the connection to the Internet.
One solution to this problem would be to use a particular push client, which the user may not configure, or one that could only be configured partially, to ensure that the push server or servers concerned are not excluded from the list. Such a push client could still be tampered with by the user. A checksum or the like could of course be used to ensure that the appropriate push client was used, but still, the software would be found at the user""s premises and the service provider would not be able to see if the appropriate push client was used.
The solution described in U.S. Pat No. 5,740,549 also enables the automatic supply of information for example to newspaper offices or emergency service centres requiring constant updating. It does, however, not suggest any way of monitoring the connection to see if the information is received as it ought to.
In both these cases there is a need to ensure that the information supplied from the push server actually reaches the client.
This is an object of the present invention to provide a method and an apparatus that will increase the reliability of a data flow between a server and a client in a data communications network.
This object is achieved according to the invention by a method in a data communications network in which an application in a user terminal is arranged to receive information from a server in the network, comprising the following steps:
monitoring if a user who should have an active connection to the server is currently having such a connection;
if this is not the case, issuing a warning to the user and/or taking other appropriate action.
The object is also achieved according to the invention by a node in a data communications network, arranged to:
monitor if a user who should have an active connection to a server is currently having such a connection;
if this is not the case, issue a warning to the user or taking other appropriate action.
With this solution it may be ensured that everybody who should receive information from the server concerned really does. If not, an alarm may be issued, for example, to the originator of the information. This may be crucial, for example, in emergency service centre to which information is transmitted through a computer network.
In an exemplary embodiment, the user""s connection to the data communications network is monitored. If connected to the data communications network, the user should also have an active connection to said server.
This ensures that a subscriber cannot be connected to the data communications network without also receiving information from the server or servers in question. For example, a subscriber cannot avoid receiving advertisements that he should receive according to his type of subscription.
If the user is connected to the data communications network without being connected to said server, the connection to the data communications network may be disconnected, or a warning may be issued, allowing the user to connect to the server. Of course, an alarm to be presented outside the system may also be issued, for example to the originator of the information.
The server may be any type of server transmitting data to a receiver, for example, a push server or a streaming server. Push servers were described above. Streaming servers are used for distributing, for example, voice and video signals to clients in a data network.
The information to be transmitted to each user, and/or the format to be used, may be selected in dependence of the user""s profile, geographical location, type of terminal, etc.
The method and apparatus according to the invention function in any kind of data communications network, for example Internet Protocol (IP) networks, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) networks and frame relay networks.